


Comfort

by kappa77



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble Collection, Gen, Pre-Canon, Trans Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 09:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11078340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kappa77/pseuds/kappa77
Summary: In which Vax has help from his friends when it comes to being more comfortable with his body.(Two drabbles focused on vax being trans)





	1. Haircut

**Author's Note:**

> This entire thing was inspired by [this post](http://transvaxildan.tumblr.com/post/159415795018/headcanon-vax-kept-his-hair-short-most-of-his)
> 
> I was going to have it be one chapter, but both parts felt disjointed enough I decided to break them into two related drabbles.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Vex wanted to talk to Vax about the newest visiting dignitary and how they were going to be able to get through it without trying to stab their father with a fork with all the underhanded comments he would inevitably make. They both knew they wouldn’t do much about it besides retort with a quip of their own, but they were still under their father’s house and his rules and they were still seen as “lesser” because of their mother. It did comfort them, knowing they each had one another, neither was going through this alone (they didn’t know how they would’ve dealt with it had they been separated).

That’s why she was going to her... brother’s room (She still berated herself for pausing before thinking about him. He’d talked about being her brother and not her sister a couple months ago and still she found herself correcting herself, even if she had gotten used to calling him Vax when their father wasn’t around.)

She stopped dead in her tracks when she walked in the doorway and saw him.

Her twin stood in the center of a halo of long strands of black hair covering the usually immaculate rug, a pair of scissors in his shaking hands. He stood in front of Vex’s mirror, staring at his now short cropped hair, jaggedly cut.

“Oh… oh, brother,” Vex said.

He looked up suddenly, his grip on the scissors tightening.

“Sister,” he said, sounding out of breath. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

The phrase sounded foreign when he said it; he rarely was that unperceptive. She briefly recognized her shoulders were tense, but her focus was entirely on his haircut. It had been eight years of living in Syngorn and she had never seen an elf with hair shorter than shoulder length. She stepped in the room, her eyes never leaving her brother’s face. His hair was now short and patchy, unevenly cut close to his skull. His pointed ears stood out prominently.

“Vex?” Her brother’s voice brought her out of her thoughts. She tore her eyes away from his hair. He gave a small smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I- Are you, Vax?” He raised an eyebrow. Vex paled at the implication. “No! No! No! Not that this is! I mean- mentally! Like-!”

“Vex!” She felt hands grip her shoulder. “I’m fine. You need to relax.” She breathed out, feeling her shoulders drop like lead weights. He smiled. “And to answer your question, I am okay. I just, decided to do it.”

“Oh, okay.” She was at a loss of words, something she found herself being more and more often when they would discuss this part of Vax. There were questions she didn’t know how to phrase, how to ask, whether she could ask them, that died on her tongue. She’d already combed the library for books about it and managed to only find one passage in a thick tome on the issue, and it didn’t speak highly of the idea. She’d made the note to try in the village, see if they happened to have books not already in her father’s library that weren’t as demeaning and negative.

 She grabbed on her brother’s elbows and his hands slipped down so they held hers.

“You do know you don’t need short hair to be a man, right?”

There was a flash of a smirk. “I do… it just helps.”

She didn’t know where to go from here. A stray clump of hair that stuck out at an odd angle at the top of his head distracted her.

“Would you like me to make it more-” She gestured to her own hair, making a straight line in the air. “Even?”

He nodded and handed her the scissors. She stood behind him and started cutting. They did so in silence, the only sounds coming from the snip of the scissors and the mutterings of servants passing outside the door. Once done, she stepped back to let her brother admire his now closely cropped hair.

“You look very handsome,” she said, meaning every word.

Vax was still staring at himself in the mirror, hands ghosting over his hair. “Thank you.”

She hesitated before speaking, not wanting to ruin his mood, but also needing to address the elephant in the room. “But, Father-”

He turned away from the mirror, grabbing her by the shoulders lightly. “There’s no need.”

He grinned at the confusion on her face. He continued, “After last night, I made plans. We can leave tonight.”

“I… Tonight?”

“Before dinner.”

She felt herself sit down on the bed, head spinning with the idea. “We can leave father… forever?”

He nodded.

She threw her arms around him, hugging tightly. He hugged back, both of them standing there for a moment, taking it in.

“I can’t fucking wait to leave this place,” she muttered.

She could feel Vax shaking from laughter, which made her start laughing in turn.


	2. Gift

Vax stopped dead in his tracks when some cloth was thrown at his face. Usually, he would’ve caught anything throw his way before anyone had noticed, but he really didn’t know what to expect when Percy had asked he drop by and this was the first thing that happened when he opened the door to Percy’s wokshop in their new Greyskull Keep.

“Percy? Would you care to explain?”

“I, um, well, it’s for you.”

Vax picked up the garment from his face. It looked like a plain, off-white shirt, but with the sleeves cut off. The fabric was soft, but stretchy.

Vax looked up at Percy. “What is this?”

Percy was bright red now. “It’s a, um… well I was inspired by- shit.” Percy took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I really am terrible at this. Do, um, do you remember that time you almost died?”

Vax smirked. “I think it’s safe to say we’ve all had many moments like that. You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“When you got smacked out of the sky and-”

His smirk fell. “Oh, right.”

 _That_ fight.

It had been right before the Dread Emperor, while they made their way through the bramble forest. It really should’ve been easy, it was just some wildlife that didn’t like the camping out in their woods. Then Vax got smacked out of the air.

Percy remembers being surprised to see Vax all the way in the back of the group, then immediately worried his friend was dying. He holstered the Pepperbox and ran over.

Vax didn’t remember much after getting throw out of range, tumbling end over end until finally coming to a stop. He did remember Percy leaning over him, pushing aside his clothes to get to where he’d been hit. A part of his brain immediately started screaming to stop Percy before he saw, before he realized why Vax always wore loose shirts and tops, why he never changed in front of people, but the rest of his body was beaten and bruised, unable to fight and cover himself.

Percy, for his part, didn’t react. Looking back, he realized it was most likely the worry of “Vax is dying” that overrode the confusion of “Why does Vax have breasts?”

He managed to stop the bleeding before giving Vax a healing potion. The pain and soreness suddenly gone, Vax rearranged himself so nothing showed. He didn’t accept the hand Percy offered as he stood up. He just ran back into the fight, only making Percy swear he wouldn’t tell anyone once the dust had settled. He swore on his life.

In the weeks and months that followed, pieces started falling into place. Why Vax was the only elf, half-elf or not, he’d seen with short hair, why any comments linking Vax to being feminine or girly made his shoulders tense. That’s why he’d had the idea and started working.

“You haven’t told any-”

"No, no, no, haven't told a soul. Not even your sister."

Vax felt almost silly for immediately thinking the worse. "Ah well... She knows. If she didn't I've be an even better at stealth than I already think I am." The smirk he gave felt hollow.

Percy wasn’t sure how to react to that, so he focused on what he did know: his inventions.

"Well, anyway, I was inspired by what women use so they can wear most types of armor without adjustment or things... getting in the way.” Vax almost felt sorry for him, clearly out of his element with discussing how women flattened their chest so they could fit into most armor.

But, stumbling words aside, Percy continued, “I have adjusted it for slightly longer use, but I wouldn't recommend wearing it for the entire day and you'd really need to get used to it during combat so you don’t immediately pass out and-"

Percy was interrupted by Vax suddenly making his way across the room and hugging him.

“Thank you, Percival.”

“Oh, I… yes, anytime. I just thought…” He sighed. “You’re welcome.”

Vax stepped away and looked at the garment again, smiling to himself. Percy expected his to walk out with another thank you, but he was surprised when Vax spoke up again.

“Would you like to spar with me?”

Percy snorted. “Am I really the best to ask that?”

“If I have to go easy on fighting with this on, then you are the perfect partner.”

He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to feel offended or what. “I-I… alright. Let me just-”

He went around his workshop, turning off things and putting out the coals and fires, sending steam and smoke up.

“I’ll meet you outside, you can go change.”

Vax nodded and Percy could hear the door shut behind him.

He allowed himself a small smile as he continued to make sure nothing would catch fire while he was out getting his ass handed to him.

And it certainly was handed to him, but it was worth Vax’s smile as he walked out onto the field, hand occasioning touching his chest, as if he couldn’t get over the feeling of having a flat chest.

Definitely worth the bruises.

-=-

By the time Allura came to Vox Machina with a mission to find out where Kima had gone, Vax’s hair was reaching his shoulders.

While she spoke about Kraghammer, Vax caught Percy staring at his hair. They both shared a smile before going back to focusing.

**Author's Note:**

> I accept constructive criticism especially on this piece as I want to make sure I didn't write anything offensive.
> 
> Talk critical role with me: kappa776.tumblr.com


End file.
